Change Me...

I find myself praying this prayer often. Can you relate?

"Lord, you know my heart. You know that I am sinful to the core. You know that I have bad attitudes and that I think things that are unholy and that I desire things that are unrighteous. You know that I put myself before others and often even before you. You know my arrogance and my laziness. You know my heart.

"Lord, you see my actions. You see that I do things that are wrong. You see my self-indulgence and my self-righteous pride. You see the ways I hurt others and you see the times that I dishonor Christ. You also see the times that I refuse or neglect to do the good things that you desire for me to do. When you prompt me to say a word of encouragement or to reach out to someone or to spend time interceding for a need and I choose not to follow your prompting. You see my actions.

"Lord, my sinfulness is not hidden from you. This is not the person that I want to be! If I could drink a potion or take a pill that would immediately and completely change me into the man that you desire for me to be, I would do it in a heartbeat. I long to be a man that follows you closely, walks with you daily, forsakes everything that is not honoring to you, lives passionately for your purposes, rejoices in your presence, hungers for your revelation through your Word, chases after opportunities to share your love and grace with others, leads powerfully in my home and community and church, and loves you more than anything else. This is the man I want to be. I pray that you would change me into that man at once. I know that you can transform me. Why don't you?

"Lord, I think I am beginning to understand that you, too, desire for me to become this man but you have a purpose behind the struggle. You have a purpose in the battle that I fight to be your man. The moments of hard decision, the internal war between holiness and ungodliness, the daily choice to put one foot in front of the other to follow Jesus, the constant awareness of my weakness, the ever-present thought that I am one wrong step away from disaster, the feeling that on my own I will loose this battle, and the weight of my sinfulness that I cannot lift are all important in my life. They teach me to depend completely on you. They prevent me from thinking that I am the source of my own power. They strengthen my faith by making it necessary for me to constantly lean on you.

"I admit that there are times that I want the struggle to be over. Sometimes I ask you to take me home with you so that I won't have to fight the battle anymore. But I know that you have placed me in this fight for a reason. Give me strength to stand in this moment and keep me leaning on you each successive moment. Let your power and righteousness flow through me to accomplish your purposes and let me deeply enjoy your presence with me.

"I long to be yours completely and I will fight each day until I am."



Fight with me!


He must increase, I must decrease.

JasonPS